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Phoebe Cary
Phoebe Cary (September 4, 1824 - July 31, 1871) was an American poet, and the younger sister of poet Alice Cary (1820-1871). The sisters co-published poems in 1849, and then each went on to publish volumes of her own. After their deaths in 1871, joint anthologies of the sisters' unpublished poems were also compiled. Life Phoebe Cary was born on September 4, 1824,Ehrlich, Eugene and Gorton Carruth. The Oxford Illustrated Literary Guide to the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, 1982: 297. ISBN 0195031865 in Mount Healthy, Ohio near Cincinnati. She and her sister Alice were raised on the Clovernook farm in what is now North College Hill, Ohio.Kane, Paul. Poetry of the American Renaissance. New York: George Braziller, 1995: 297. ISBN 0-8076-1398-3 While she and her sister were raised in a Universalist household and held political and religious views that were liberal and reformist, they often attended Methodist, Presbyterian, and Congregationalist services and were friendly with ministers of all these denominations and others.June Edwards. "The Cary Sisters". Accessed Nov. 29, 2007. While they occasionally attended school, the sisters were often needed to work at home and so were largely self-educated. The sisters' mother died in 1835, and two years afterward their father married again. The stepmother was wholly unsympathetic regarding their literary aspirations. For their part, while they were ready and willing to aid to the full extent of their strength in household labor, the sisters persisted in a determination to study and write when the day's work was done. Sometimes they were refused the use of candles to the extent of their wishes, and the device of a saucer of lard with a bit of rag for a wick was their only light after the rest of the family had retired. More outgoing than her sister, Phoebe was a champion of women's rights and for a short time edited The Revolution, a newspaper published by Susan B. Anthony. In 1848, their poetry was published in the anthology Female Poets of America edited by Rufus Wilmot Griswold and, with his help, Poems of Alice and Phoebe Cary was published in 1849. Poet John Greenleaf Whittier had been invited to provide a preface but refused. He believed their poetry did not need his endorsement and also noted a general dislike for prefaces as a method to "pass off by aid of a known name, what otherwise would not pass current".Woodwell, Roland H. John Greenleaf Whittier: A Biography. Haverhill, Massachusetts: Trustees of the John Greenleaf Whittier Homestead, 1985: 232 The sisters' anthology garnered much acclaim, and in 1850 they moved to New York City. There, they often hosted evening receptions on Sundays, some of which were attended by well-known figures such as P.T. Barnum]], John Greenleaf Whittier, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. While in New York, Phoebe published 2 volumes of exclusively her own poetry: Poems and Parodies and Poems of Faith, Hope, and Love. Additionally, her lyrics appeared in many church hymnals, on Sunday School cards, and in household scrapbooks. One of her hymns, "Nearer Home," was often sung at funerals, including Alice's and her own. In the joint housekeeping in New York, Phoebe took, from choice (Alice being for many years an invalid), the larger share of the household duties, and hence found less leisure for literary labor. She wrote very little prose, and her poetry was so different in style, so much more buoyant in tone and independent in manner, that the verses of one sister were rarely ascribed to the other. Alice died in 1871 from tuberculosis; Phoebe died 5 months later of hepatitis, on July 31, 1871, in Newport, Rhode Island.Ehrlich, Eugene and Gorton Carruth. The Oxford Illustrated Literary Guide to the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, 1982: 69. ISBN 0195031865 Both were buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York. Recognition Cary Cottage, the Cary sisters' childhood home, stands today on the east side of Hamilton Avenue (US 127), on the campus of the Clovernook Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired in North College Hill. Cary Cottage became the first home in Ohio for blind women. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. Publications *''Poems of Alice and Phoebe Cary''.Philadelphia: Moss & Brother, 1849. *''Poems and Parodies''. Boston: Ticknor, Reed & Fields, 1854. *''Poems of Faith, Hope, and Love''. New York: Hurd & Houghton, 1867. *''From Year to Year: A token of remembrance''. New York: G.A. Leavitt, 1869. *''A Memorial of Alice and Phoebe Cary; with Some of their later poems'' (edited by Mary Clemmer Ames). New York: Hurd & Houghton, 1873; London: Sampson Low, Marston, Low, & Searle, 1873. *''The Last Poems of Alice and Phoebe Cary'' (edited by Mary Clemmer Ames). New York: Hurd & Houghton, 1873. *''The Poetical Works of Alice and Phoebe Cary. Boston: Houghton Osgoode, 1876; New York: Hurd & Houghton, 1879; Boston: Houghton Mifflin (Household Edition), 1880. *Poems of Alice and Phoebe Cary'' (edited by Katharine Lee Bates). New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1903. *''Flowers from Alice and Phoebe Cary''. Boston: DeWolfe & Fiske, 1905. Juvenile *''Ballads for Little Folks'' (by Alice and Phoebe Cary; edited by Mary Clemmer Ames). New York: Hurd & Houghton, 1875; Freeport, NY: Books for Libraries Press, 1970 Edited *''Hymns for all Christians'' (edited by Charles Force Deems & Phoebe Cary). New York: Hurd & Houghton, 1866; 6th edition, New York: W.B.Ketcham, 1888. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Phoebe Cary, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Mar. 19, 2017. See also * List of U.S. poets References * Mary C. Ames, Memorials of Alice and Phœbe Cary (26th edition, 1885). Notes External links ;Poems *"One Sweetly Solemn Thought" in A Book of Women's Verse *Phoebe Cary 1824-1871 at the Poetry Foundation. *Selected Poetry of Phoebe Cary (1824-1871) (9 poems) at Representative Poetry Online * Phoebe Cary at Poets' Corner *Phoebe Cary at PoemHunter (15 poems) *Phoebe Cary at Poetry Nook (26 poems) ;Books *Phoebe Cary at Amazon.com ;About *Early Nineteenth Century: Alice Cary and Phoebe Cary *Cyber Hymnal: Phoebe Cary *Phoebe Cary at Find a Grave. ;Etc. *Cary Cottage Category:American poets Category:1824 births Category:1871 deaths Category:Writers from Cincinnati, Ohio Category:Women of the Victorian era Category:Deaths from hepatitis Category:Infectious disease deaths in Rhode Island Category:Burials at Green-Wood Cemetery Category:American women writers Category:19th-century poets Category:19th-century women writers Category:English-language poets Category:Poets Category:Women poets